Personal watercraft transport

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for towing a personal watercraft includes a pair of wheels, each rotatably mounted to one end of a respective arm. The arms are pivotally mounted by clamps to a crossmember which extends through a clamp mounted on the topside of the watercraft for movement between stowed positions and ground-engaging positions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This regular utility patent application claims the benefit under 35 U.S. C. § 119(e) of U.S. Ser. No. 61/239,543 filed Sep. 3, 2009. Thedisclosure of U.S. Ser. No. 61/239,543 is hereby incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to transports for personal watercraft such ascanoes, kayaks, and the like. It is disclosed in the context of atransport for a kayak, but is believed to have other applications aswell.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Personal watercraft transports are currently available. See, forexample: “PaddleCart, The Ultimate Kayak Cart and Canoe Cart;” and, “TheWike Woody Wagon Canoe Trailer at Wike Bicycle Trailers Bike Trailersand Bike Joggers.” The disclosures of these references are herebyincorporated herein by reference. The above listing is not intended tobe a representation that a complete search of all relevant art has beenmade, or that no more pertinent art than that listed exists, or that thelisted art is material to patentability. Nor should any suchrepresentation be inferred.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

According to the disclosure, an apparatus for towing a watercraft with abicycle includes a pair of wheels. Each wheel is rotatably mounted toone end of a respective arm. The arms are pivotally mounted from atopside of the watercraft for movement of the wheels between stowedpositions and ground-engaging positions.

Further illustratively, the apparatus comprises a crossmember mounted onthe topside of the watercraft. The arms are pivotally mounted from saidtopside of the watercraft by being mounted on said crossmember.

Illustratively, the arms are pivotally mounted to said crossmember byclamps.

Illustratively, the arms are pivotally mounted by second clamps to thecrossmember.

Further illustratively, the apparatus comprises a bicycle fork clampadjacent said first clamp.

Further illustratively, the apparatus comprises a rear wheel bracketmounted to the watercraft such a distance from the fork clamp thatclamping the bicycle's front fork into the fork clamp positions thebicycle's rear wheel in the rear wheel bracket.

Further illustratively, the apparatus comprises an axle which extendsbetween the arms, and a towing tongue including a pair of flexiblemembers extending from an end of the towing tongue for attachment to theaxle.

Further illustratively, the apparatus comprises a third flexible memberextending from the end of the towing tongue for attachment to thewatercraft.

Illustratively, the towing tongue includes a plug for attachment to arearward end of the towing tongue. The flexible members are attached tothe towing tongue by the plug.

Further illustratively, the apparatus comprises a third flexible memberpositioned along the length of the towing tongue between the end of thetowing tongue and a second end of the towing tongue. The third flexiblemember engages a region of the watercraft adjacent an end of thewatercraft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by referring to the followingdetailed description and accompanying drawings which illustrate theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a side elevational view of an apparatus for towing apersonal watercraft;

FIG. 2 illustrates a fragmentary perspective view of an apparatus fortowing a personal watercraft;

FIG. 3 illustrates a fragmentary side elevational view of a personalwatercraft on the water;

FIG. 4 illustrates a fragmentary sectional view of the apparatusillustrated in FIGS. 1-3 taken generally along section lines 4-4 of FIG.3;

FIG. 5 illustrates a detail of the apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 6 illustrates a detail of the apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1-3;and,

FIG. 7 illustrates a detail of the apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1-3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The devices described combine cycling and personal watercraft enjoyment,for example, kayaking, by permitting the enthusiast to tow a personalwatercraft with a bicycle. The described devices permit the enthusiastto attach the bicycle to the personal watercraft, for example, to thetopside of the kayak just behind the seat. A cart portion of thedescribed devices has retractable wheels. When retracted, the wheels arealso located behind the personal watercraft seat. The described deviceseliminate the need for a pickup vehicle at the terminal end, forexample, the downstream end, of a personal watercraft cruise. Thedescribed devices include a tow arm that couples to the cart axle andruns under the personal watercraft, or across the topside of thepersonal watercraft, to the tow bicycle. The tow arm breaks down intomultiple, for example, two, parts for storage on the personal watercraftwhile under way. In some embodiments, one or more parts of the tow armmay also be used as (a) component(s) of an outrigger for added stabilityof the watercraft, for example, in rough water.

An apparatus 20 for towing a personal watercraft 22, such as a kayak,behind a bicycle 24 is illustrated in FIGS. 1-4. The apparatus 20includes a pair of wheels 26, each rotatably mounted to one end of arespective arm 28. Arms 28 in turn are pivotally mounted by clamps 30 toa crossmember 32 which extends through a clamp 34 mounted on the topside36 of the watercraft 22. A fork clamp or fork block 38 of knownconfiguration is combined with, or mounted on or adjacent, clamp 34. Arear wheel bracket 40 is mounted to the topside 36 of the watercraftrearwardly from fork block 38 an appropriate distance so that clampingthe bicycle 24′s front fork 42 into the fork block 38 places the bicycle24′s rear wheel 44 in the rear wheel bracket 40.

A towing tongue 46 includes a plug 48 insertable into a rearward end 50thereof and lockable in end 50 by, for example, a threaded fastener, asplit pin, a hairpin-type cotter pin, a split ring, a bowtie lockingcotter of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,693, or othersuitable type of fastener. The plug 48 has one end of each of threestraps 52-1, 52-2, 52-3 constructed from, for example, natural orsynthetic webbing or belting, attached thereto. The lengths of straps52-1, 52-2, 52-3 are adjustable, for example, by respective buckles54-1, 54-2, 54-3, along the lengths thereof.

Center strap 52-2 has a hook 55 at its end 56 opposite plug 48 forhooking over the lip 58 of the cockpit 60 of watercraft 22. Outer straps52-1 and 52-3 have additional buckles 61 permitting them to be drawntight around an axle 62 which extends between clamp blocks 64 by whichwheels 26 are mounted to arms 28. Another strap 66 is attached to towingtongue 46 forward along its length at a location near where the bow 68of watercraft 22 will be located when the apparatus 20 is in towingconfiguration.

Tongue 46 may be constructed in the form of two substantially equallengths 70 of tubing or the like with adjacent ends 72, 74 of anysuitable complementary configuration to permit joining them together,end 50 for receiving plug 48 and an end 78 including a towing coupler 80for coupling to a complementary coupler on the bicycle 24. Strap 66 isprovided with a buckle 82 at one end thereof. When it is desired to towthe watercraft 22 behind the bicycle 24, the tongue 46 is assembled fromits disassembled, stowable configuration. Clamps 30 are released,permitting them to be slid outward along crossmember 32 and pivoting ofarms 28 with their wheels 26 downward into ground-engaging orientation,at which point the clamps 30 are reclamped to crossmember 32 fixingwheels 26 in ground-engaging orientation. The watercraft 22 is thenready to tow with the bicycle 24.

Adjacent ends 72, 74 can be, for example, provided with a smaller orlarger diameter length of tubing which is insertable into, or slidesaround one or the other or both of ends 72, 74 and is fixed to ends 72,74 by a threaded fastener, split pin, hairpin-type cotter pin, splitring, bowtie locking cotter or the like. Alternatively, ends can beprovided with internal or external threads and a threaded coupler can beprovided to thread onto the outsides or insides of them.

Clamps 30, 34, 64 illustratively are split block- or slotted block-typeclamps of the general type illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. These aretightened to clamp tubes 28, 32, 62 by tightening socket head threadedfasteners 84 into the threaded passageways with which respective clamps30, 34, 64 are provided. Fork block 38 and rear wheel bracket 40illustratively are of types available from a number of sources such as,for example, Thule (http://www.thule.com/en/US/), Hollywood Racks(http://www.hollywoodracks.com/), or Rocky Mounts(http://www.rockymounts.com/). Axle 62 and tongue components 70illustratively are sufficiently short that they can be stowed inwatercraft 22 when it is on the water.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for towing a watercraft with abicycle, the apparatus including a pair of wheels, each said wheelrotatably mounted to one end of a respective arm, said arms beingpivotally mounted from a topside of the watercraft for movement of saidwheels between stowed positions and ground-engaging positions.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein said arms are pivotally mounted by secondclamps to the crossmember.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 furthercomprising a bicycle fork clamp adjacent said first clamp.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3 further comprising a rear wheel bracket mounted tothe watercraft a distance from the fork clamp so that clamping thebicycle's front fork into the fork clamp positions the bicycle's rearwheel in the rear wheel bracket.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 furthercomprising an axle which extends between said arms, and a towing tongueincluding a pair of flexible members extending from an end thereof forattachment to said axle.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprisinga third flexible member extending from the end of said towing tongue forattachment to the watercraft.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein saidtowing tongue includes a plug for attachment to a rearward end of saidtowing tongue, the flexible members attached to said towing tongue bysaid plug.
 8. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a thirdflexible member positioned along the length of said towing tonguebetween said end thereof and a second end thereof, the third flexiblemember for engaging a region of the watercraft adjacent an end of thewatercraft.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a crossmembermounted on the topside of the watercraft, said arms being pivotallymounted from said topside of the watercraft by being mounted on saidcrossmember.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said arms arepivotally mounted to said crossmember by clamps.